Featuring Reviews of Triangle Area Restaurants, and Food and Drink Recommendations!

Shabashabu in Raleigh

It’s a very rare opportunity to get to try Shabu-shabu in the United States. In Los Angeles I only knew of one restaurant there that served it, and unfortunately never got a chance to visit it. I was skeptical when I heard there was a restaurant called “Shabashabu” in Raleigh and Durham, especially when I heard they served sushi and Thai food. But after seeing other reviews that indicated they did in fact serve Shabu-shabu as well, we decided to give it a shot. We picked the Raleigh location solely on the fact that they are open on Sundays, and because a previous review I read did mention the Shabu-shabu. I’m still not entirely sure if the Durham location serves it or not.

We arrived at the restaurant shortly before 5pm, so there were very few other people in the restaurant. The building is divided into several different sections, and because we requested Shabu-shabu we were seated at a bar-type section with a sushi bar across the room and cafeteria-like seating in the rest of the area. From the stories my husband had told me about Shabu-shabu, I was expecting a 4 to 6 person table with a large pot in the middle, but instead the bar was set up for individual pots for each person. The Shabu-shabu isn’t on the online menu, but in the restaurant it’s on the menu under the chef’s specials. It can be ordered with seafood, steak, or seafood and steak. We both chose the steak option (NY Shabu) at $23.99 each. We also got an appetizer of chicken harumaki to share, and some green tea.

First the waitress turned on the pot burners, and brought out two giant lidded pots of boiling broth. She brought out a plate of 3 sauces and explained that one was ponzu (citrus/soy), one was flavored like a Korean BBQ sauce, and one was a Thai peanut sauce. The Korean sauce was spicy, the Thai peanut sauce was not at all, but still tasted ok. Then she brought out our appetizers, the chicken harumaki. From the menu description (fried chicken and cheddar) it didn’t sound like a real Japanese dish, but my husband assured me it’s a real street food in Japan. He said it’s not served quite the way they serve it in Japan though, instead of being rolled up in a spring roll wrapper, it’s usually just deep fried in little breaded balls. I dipped the harumaki in the sweet and sour sauce provided and it was pretty good. I don’t know if it was $5.49 good, but I like to be able to say I’ll try anything once.

Chicken Harumaki

The Shabu-shabu ingredients started coming out a little later. We each got served a huge plate of chopped carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, pea pods and cabbage, with a smaller dish of udon and 2 chunks of tofu. We got tiny pots of covered steamed rice. Lastly we each got our big plate of thinly sliced steak, rolled up neatly. The waitress said she normally dumps all her veggies and noodles in the pot, waits until the pot boils again, then starts swishing the meat.

I did as she instructed and dumped all my veggies and noodles in. It took a while for the pot to become boiling again, so I started munching on some of the veggies before they were fully cooked. The utensils we were given were a soup ladle, a slotted spoon, chopsticks and a fork. I’m not sure what the ladle was for because I wasn’t given a bowl… maybe I should have used that dish that the noodles came in. I ended up eating most of my food off the small plate we used to eat the appetizers off of. Honestly I don’t know if there’s a way to do Shabu-shabu that doesn’t come off as silly. I think I made a terrible mess dripping and splashing broth, but maybe that’s part of the fun.

When the broth finally came to a boil again, I started swishing my meat. I found the fork worked the best for me, since I was consistently losing it while using the chopsticks. I would lightly swish my meat until it just barely turned a lighter color, then dip it in the sauce and eat it. If you’ve ever complained that your rare/medium beef comes to your table too cool, you’ll be impressed by this method of cooking it. The veggies turn out pretty good too, but by the end of the meal they tend to get a bit over-cooked. I’d say it took us about an hour to complete the meal, much longer than I normally take to eat. But it was a lot of fun! If you’ve ever wanted the experience of cooking your own food, while someone else has done all the preparation and will do all the cleaning up for you, this will be an enjoyable experience for you.

NY Shabu

The restaurant has modern decor that can come off as rather cold and impersonal. I suppose it depends upon where you sit, but the Shabu-shabu side seemed less inviting than some of the other areas of the restaurant. But still, they obviously spent a lot of time and money on the decor and it was nice to be able to look around while waiting for food.

I wish I could comment on the Thai or sushi, but that will have to wait for another visit. I really did enjoy my Shabu-shabu experience though, and I think it’s something everyone should try at least once.

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Thanks mlanz, for the information about “Shabashabu” restaurant & menu. Hopefully I can try it in the near future. I had the opportunity to eat at Spring Rolls in Raleigh. The thai food they serve was fabulous & well presented. They have great vegan menu and something for everyone..